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Partridge Falls 2 (2010)
North Woods, Minnesota
I don’t know when I’ve felt
so connected to a place as I felt on the North
Shore of Lake Superior.
I’m sure being with my brother Roger and
his good friend Travis Novitsky had a lot to do
with it.
Also visiting the Spirit Tree for sunrise
Saturday morning surely made the connection
stronger.
But the land is also really
ancient up there.
The young rocks are a mere billion years
old; yes, that’s billion with a B.
And not far away are rocks that are more
than four billion years old.
These are some of the oldest rocks on the
planet and somehow I could feel their age.
I guess the best way I can describe the
feeling is one of reverence.
So I’m returning to the
October Minnesota brother shoot for this month’s
pick for photo of the month.
I have other photos that are begging to
be recognized but I really want to start the
year with a Minnesota image.
The one I have selected is
from the shoot at Partridge Falls.
We arrived late in the afternoon after
driving all around the back roads of the Ojibwa
reservation with Travis.
Our last shoot was to be the falls on the
Pigeon River that forms the US-Canadian border.
Upstream from the falls are miles and
miles of meandering river as it lazily flows
through endless meadows.
But at the falls the river plummets into
a deep gorge.
The rocks over which the
river tumbles are angular and fractured and tilt
at an angle to give the water some amazing
patterns.
We had to climb down the side of the
gorge to get to the rocks at the bottom.
The climb was a bit tricky as there is no
established path.
We’re not in a park.
It’s just raw nature back here.
I don’t have a set method
for shooting moving water.
Many photographers go for 1 and 2 second
exposures to get the silky effect.
I guess I’m not really comfortable with
that.
After all, the water is a powerful force
on our Mother Earth, responsible for most of the
fantastic sculpting of rocks and mountains that
we so enjoy.
So, as beautiful as the silky effect is,
I don’t see water as a soft veil of gauze.
But at this particular
falls there was more than just the water
tumbling over the precipice.
The waterfall was in the soft light of
open shade and the light was beginning to fade.
I guess with the combination of the
experiences of the day and the connection I was
feeling to the earth I started to see and feel
things as I photographed.
And one thing led to another.
As I explored the more intimate features
of the surface of the falls I could almost feel
wood fairies dancing in the water.
I adjusted the shutter speed and the
effect became even more pronounced.
I ended up shooting the water at 1/8 of a
second, an unconscionably fast shutter speed for
a so called ‘fine art’ photographer.
But that was what I was feeling.
The effect created strands of water
instead of sheets of silk.
It was like being able to see into the
water where the fairies were dancing.
I became more and more excited as I
explored the possibilities.
I ended up with three
favorites from that shoot and this one is my
favorite of the favorites.
I still
feel the excitement and see the magic when I
look at it.
The vertical lines are very appealing to
me and the diagonal of rushing water in the
lower left corner provides an interesting
accent.
The many rock faces that are deflecting
the water created a fascinating pattern of
strands that have depth and form.
In the post processing I
was able to enhance the three dimensional
quality by darkening the rock while holding the
subdued tonality of the water.
I left a blue cast because the cool color
tends to soften the effect and give it a feeling
of night-fall.
I still see the wood fairies going about their
joyful way.
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